Cutlets of pork with truffle oil and sage perfumed rice
This is an all-new dish and I had to give up half my lunch yesterday to get the last taste test done by an Italian! It was OK though, because it was the third time I’d made it to be sure that I had the proportions right. Yours will look better, because yesterday’s version was missing the spinach because I ran out of it.
Let’s talk about truffle oil before we begin. There is, as you may have read, fake truffle oil out there. There is also real truffle oil, and that’s what to buy. It may look expensive at first, but it is used by the drop and if kept cool in the dark– fridge door?– it can last for years. It offers a truly upscale taste to many mundane foods. I use it perhaps once a month. Look at the label and it must say first oil and then truffles. If the label is in Italian it must say olio d’olive followed by tartuffo or tartuffi. If it says anything else it is only chemical fake truffle taste. You can make this dish without truffles of course, but it’s just yummy then, and it is brilliant with the truffle flavor.
Ingredients for six people:
1 cup of raw rice, cooked with 3 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt until done according to the package
6 tablespoons of butter
6 tablespoons of cooked, chopped spinach
2 tablespoons of dry powdered or rubbed sage
salt to taste
12 thin slices of lean pork, boneless loin or fresh leg
2 tablespoons of good olive oil
salt to taste
12 drops of truffle oil
2 more tablespoons of olive oil
Start with this:
Using the battecarne as shown, or something else without teeth to beat it with, beat the cutlet until it is half as thick and about twice as large. Don’t shred it! Do all this ahead of time because once you start to cook the meat it is done in moments.
You should also start the rice cooking so that it is ready just a few moments before you wish to eat. You can use the twelve minutes to prepare the meat.
When the meat is all refined and slim, heat a large and heavy frying pan and add the olive oil. Put as many cutlets in as will not crowd the pan and sauté one side briefly, then turn, lightly salt, and sauté the other side. It takes less than 2 minutes for them to be done through because of the beating. Continue to cook the pork until all are done. Add two tablespoons of raw oil to the pan and stir it around to pull up more flavor.
When the rice is done, stir in the butter, the sage and the spinach. Taste it and correct for salt. On to each cooked cutlet, spoon some of the rice and roll it up and plate it. When they are all plated, two for each plate, put a drop of truffle oil on each one, then drizzle a bit of pan juice/oil over the serving. Add a fresh sage leaf or two as a garnish.
In answer to any possible question as to whether this would be better with fresh sage, no. Fresh sage has some resinous overtone that is less pleasant than the dried. Use the dried…. Olga agrees with me.
I know that this sounds like too much butter and an excess of sage, but believe me, it isn’t. The filling is something I have made for years and years and it is lovely on its own or with chicken or pork or turkey, but in this combination with truffle added, it is just a new sensation entirely for me.
1 comment May 25th, 2007
